This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 24, 2014

Not every VC used to get pitched by VC funds for a living and has seen hundreds and hundreds of VC pitch decks. In particular, I''m always trying to improve as a board member, but their aren''t any programs or classes for that. How are we supposed to get better?

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accelerator mentorship VC incubation 388

Entrepreneurs' Organization

MAY 28, 2020

Embody it to your core and make it a central part of your pitch to investors. The post 3 Tips for Getting Investors on Board With Your CSR Mission appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. Purpose and profits have never been more intertwined, and investors have taken notice.

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board sustainability strategy energy 226

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 22, 2014

These are things that other VCs think about, but founders who come to pitch don''t think about too much. One of the reasons why I''m announcing at all is because I realized that it had been a while since I said anything about the progress of the fund--and if you''re an industry person, you might have started wondering. How where things going?

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pitching board VC opportunity 413

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 2, 2023

The venture asset class seems to have already decided that AI is the next great investment opportunity, but I’m not so sure it’s going to disrupt business and create the across-the-board wealth that has been predicted. I got to see all of the top VCs pitching their funds. Technology has already made the world pretty efficient.

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opportunity investing investment disruption 269

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 28, 2021

She’s even been on several board calls already and last week showed up on her first pitch call. Or, just do the six months acroess the board—it doesn’t seem to be hurting Spotify. Home is a different story. How about paying into childcare costs, adoption, or IVF too?

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hospitality board energy pitching 480

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

Associates often shadow partners at board meetings so that they can help follow up with the company on important initiatives between board meetings. I think it’s great for some people because it really does give you some solid benefits: board exposure / experience. Helping be the VC “presence” at key events.

investing 365

investing investment VC board 365

Dream It

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

Keep reading for some more of the most common mistakes startups make when pitching and for Steve’s tips on how to fix them. Investors want to hear, “Our unique insight is __”… in your pitch 2. End your pitch with something along the lines of, “So, is this something you feel you would like to get behind?” co-founder).

startup founder 397

startup founder founder startup pitching 397

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 17, 2012

I got a term sheet out less than 100 days into the job and was lucky enough to get to work with my friend Rob May as a Board Member for my first investment, Backupify. My experience at First Round over the last two years has been amazing from day one--and I thank Josh and the rest of the team for giving me the opportunity to work with them.

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ventures creativity communities venture capital 345

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2013

When DataSift sets up a board meeting (next one in London, last was in NYC) we have investors from NYC (IA Ventures), SF (Scale Ventures) and the founding team + chairman in London. If these people work for reputable firms and have the right industry knowledge they ought to be on your pitch list. This isn’t a complaint.

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VC board communities pitching 365

StartupNation

NOVEMBER 21, 2021

In the startup world, it’s pitch decks, not business plans that get companies funded. Making a pitch deck is an art, a science, but most importantly, a story. Angel investors and venture capitalists have also learned to expect a standard pitch deck as the first filter when evaluating a company to invest in.

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pitching SaaS mix-use media 122

Entrepreneurs' Organization

AUGUST 5, 2022

There’s a lengthy application and vetting process for EO members or Accelerators to qualify to pitch. The 20 or so people selected will participate in a pitch workshop breakout session during DX22. Round One of the Angel-Shark Experience gives each competitor three minutes to pitch before a big gong ends their presentation.

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accelerator networking pitching real estate 273

TechCrunch

APRIL 25, 2023

But dealmaking is idiosyncratic: a few investors might be content to make a deal over coffee, but early-stage teams still need a sturdy pitch deck or memo they can leave behind. I’m going to save you some time: many (if not most) of you are not yet ready to pitch an investor. Thanks very much to everyone who took the time to respond!

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pitching incubation board opportunity 98

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

Luckily for aspirational baseball players, pitch velocity, spin rate, and just about every other aspect of playing baseball are highly quantifiable in real-time. You throw a pitch and you don’t find out the speed for a year or even longer. That pitch you threw a year ago, that was 92. Actually, it’s even worse than that.

pitching 243

pitching peer-to-peer board VC 243

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Board Meetings. How do VCs break out of group think when they are shuttling from one board meeting to the next, from one conference to the other and talking with all the same people? Every so often I find myself caught up in a really hectic 3-4 week schedule where it seems like I float endlessly betweens meetings. Conferences.

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creativity venture capital entrepreneurs board 400

American Entrepreneurship

DECEMBER 4, 2024

Recognizing this, The Veteran Fund announced the winner of its $100,000 Veteran Pitch Competition and the recent closing of its inaugural oversubscribed investment Fund I. Sutton, an entrepreneur, is a Board Member of YPO, a global leadership community of extraordinary chief executives, and the Nevada Policy Research Institute.

leadership 98

leadership startup accelerator mentorship entrepreneurship 98

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

I am VERY careful in board meetings and in startup pitches to tell entrepreneurs, “I feel very strongly about my opinion on this topic. In the End Go with Your Gut. In the end there is no recipe for a startup or for business. I caution people all the time from overly following my advice.

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advice frameworks startup mix-use 407

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 18, 2019

If everyone gets measured based on one set of shared norms around pitching, professional reviews, and updates—the language of straight white men—you’re going to wind up with a lot of mismeasurement of what’s actually happening and likely to happen in these companies.

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venture capital capital ventures peer-to-peer 413

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2019

I don’t feel like canceling LinkedIn just because occasionally a well-meaning but slightly not-clued-in person from a faraway place wants me to be their personal mentor, answer 3-questions for their high-school entrepreneurship project or take a sales pitch for their recruiting services. In Adam’s world, I’m rude. Scheduling a group call?—?as

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advice board pitching startup accelerator 250

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 25, 2023

I would control all the board seats and voting power, but you’ve got this fancy title you can put on your LinkedIn and use when you speak at conferences later after we IPO. It’s a perfectly legitimate pitch to say, “This would be my team the day we close on the money, but they have day jobs because costs.” Technically, it’s a title.

founder 368

founder VC board pitching 368

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2015

They originally pitched us with a hacked but super productive prototype they built in their fraternity room and a rendering of a beautiful bookshelf sized in-home growing system that they committed to building. One of the first bets we made in Agtech was Grove started by two young, passionate engineers out of MIT – Gabe and Jamie.

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founder ecology sustainability culture 363

Revolution

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

What we did: David Hall, who serves on the board of the National Venture Capital Association, celebrated the organization’s 50th anniversary by joining fellow board members at the New York Stock Exchange to ring the Closing Bell. Catch insights from Steve and a recap of the pitch competition. Where we went: New York, New York?

venture capital 246

venture capital pitching ventures board 246

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2014

Every pitch I’ve ever seen has led to the, “Would Amazon eventually do this? It’s the company that evokes fear into more startups and venture capitalists looking to fund eCommerce businesses than any other potential competitor. And could we then compete?” ” type questions.

real estate 380

real estate ventures innovation pitching 380

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 29, 2016

Assuming they weren't unethical and they met your character standard, you went into a pitch with the goal of getting money from this person, and they didn't get there. It doesn't pay to look at it any other way--and I think too many founders focus on the investor as the problem versus their pitch or their company. Same with pitching.

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founder pitching board investing 244

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 5, 2014

But as I rose in my career (and post MBA) I moved into a role in which I was to advise board-level executives on topics where I was expected to rapidly become an expert. We are their sparring partners, their sounding boards. Some areas were easy because they were technical and the answer was knowable or estimate-able. It is unknowable.

peer-to-peer 337

peer-to-peer entrepreneurs consulting VC 337

Entrepreneurs' Organization

MAY 24, 2024

In her 20-year leadership tenure with the organization, Winnie has held volunteer positions ranging from Communications Chair to Global Board Director, and has been instrumental in EO’s progress. She currently serves as EO’s Senior Global Board Advisor for Leadership Communications and Brand.

leadership 197

leadership board sustainability entrepreneurs 197

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 21, 2017

Board meetings at @amplehills are dangerous. Would we pitch Series A players? It's too easy to think that if you tilt the pitch just a little one way or the other, that's going to make the difference, but that's Monday morning quarterbacking. Did that seed make this round our Series A? Who cares what we called it?

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pitching VC investing investment 255

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 31, 2013

Pitching is all about telling a story. You''ve been to demo days and pitch meetups and read Techcrunch and Mashable about product launches. What the hell are you pitching? If we raise, the head of marketing from the Ab Rollee has agreed to come on board.". You''ve practiced long and hard on how you tell your story.

pitching 303

pitching venture capital energy technology 303

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

Another founder … “When I pitched the idea to Adam, he was super on board,” Mr. Sloyan said. I see emails from angel syndicates all the time for companies I hadn’t even given 2 seconds thought about investing and I get full info, pitch deck and info about the round size and timing. All of my partners at Upfront do.

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startup advice pitching VC 323

TechCrunch

AUGUST 20, 2021

In the latter half of the episode, those same guests give live feedback to folks in the audience who come on our virtual stage and pitch their products. Truth be told, everyone loves a good pitch-off. So in these upcoming Startup Alley Edition episodes of Extra Crunch Live, we’re turning the entire episode into a pitch-off.

pitching 101

pitching disruption startup board 101

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2017

Because I’ve observed this process dozens and dozens of times both as somebody who has had to raise capital for nearly 20 years himself and as an investor on the board of companies where we’re raising money — I thought I’d jot down some thoughts for those who will raise in the years ahead. So GET BACK IN FRONT OF THEM! That’s fantasy land.

pitching 238

pitching VC mix-use entrepreneurs 238

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 17, 2016

Now that they have to go back into the market next year to pitch their own fund, they're going to have to answer some tough questions about valuations. They might be doing board meetings more frequently, coaching first time founders through layoffs and debating with their partners which companies they should bridge until things thaw out.

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VC pitching board capital 253

Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative

JULY 27, 2021

I’m taking people on board and asking them, what is your vision for small businesses? I used to pitch ideas to my cousins and my parents of ways I was going to make money. As I went on pitching the idea to other groups, I realized that so many companies, not just small ones, were having these problems. What keeps you motivated?

pitching 219

pitching communities entrepreneurship networking 219

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 14, 2019

If you’re lacking for track record as a firm, here’s three exercises you should walk through to help turn your pitch and due diligence meetings from guesswork into something more substantive. Taking board seats? Want to only invest in diverse boards? Obviously, that’s ideal, but that’s not where everyone starts. For how long?

ventures 281

ventures angel investing board advice 281

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 23, 2012

Half the time, founders were pitching a completely different idea than what took off--so the VC who looks brilliant for funding the latest viral app really funded a B2B product that never took off. What you should be doing is thinking about this more like a Pinterest board--meant to inspire and not necessarily for you to just buy everything.

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advice startup VC strategy 417

Dream It

MAY 4, 2021

In this Dreamit Dose, Managing Director Adam Dakin reveals the right approach on how to answer the valuation question when pitching VCs. Valuation is not set by you, your team, your investors, or your board. I have co-founded several companies and served on many boards. That’s your Dreamit Dose in about 5 minutes!

VC 300

VC board pitching health 300

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 4, 2017

The tables turn and the one being pitched to becomes the one pitching. I love this job so much and like seeing other people succeed that I have serious FOMO not to hear those stories firsthand and be able to make those hiring intros, pitch a reporter, or ask the right question at the right time in a board meeting.

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pitching VC venture capital board 218

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 7, 2013

In many cases, I got to know the entrepreneur before they were pitching or even had a deck. Because I''m in my market and in the flow of top teams and networked with the right folks, I''m never more than a character reference away through someone I trust and know well to just about all of the people I''ve backed.

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